Thursday, July 6, 2017

Poetry Friday 7/7/17 Rivers are never ending construction zones

I live on the east coast but my mind and writing attention are still in my recent visit to the Northwest Pacific.

When visiting the Suquamish Museumin Suquamish, WA, I was completely taken with the small but beautiful exhibits...especially the one about the Elwah River. There was a line in the exhibit documentation that I knew immediately was going to be a golden shovel poem as soon as I saw it.....and it became the title too.

Healthy rivers are never ending construction zones

People of clear salt water well know that healthy

dances with death and life. Rivers

and sea, sky and forest give and partake. The Changer* knows people are

meant to learn this with fasting, prayer, meditation and ritual. Never

was sun to overpower moon. No ending

forgets its start…a longhouse was red cedar, before construction.

Each chinook thrived in salt before thrashing current to spawning zones.

Hop on over to Beyond Literacy for this week's Poetry Friday round-up with delightful Carol Varsalona. Tabatha Yeatts at, The Opposite of Indifference, is hosting the Poetry Friday Round-up on 7/14 which also happens to be National Macaroni & Cheese Day.....she will be playing with that as a theme and we are all invited to cook up something to bring to the party.

I've been in that area with students, a special place, & it seems you were very inspired. Your poem speaks of so much in those few lines, Linda, all the learning that must be! I love the "No ending/forgets its start" too. You've created a poem/memory of your trip!

Linda, I love the history and layers you have created and woven into your Golden Shovel poem.The dialogue between the "Changer" and the relationship between"fasting, prayer, meditation and ritual," is one we could benefit from trying on, along with the continuum you've created in the closing lines, thanks!

So nice to see your Golden Shovel here today! What a great way to keep your visit remembered. You will have to keep it next to some of the pictures you took. It would make a nice scrapbook page for your summer adventures this year!